1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the contamination control art, and, more particularly, to a contamination control boom particularly adapted for flowing bodies of water which contain solid floating objects in addition to liquid contamination such as oil.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The containment and/or cleaning up of contamination on bodies of water, such as, for example, oil spills, has received considerable attention in recent years due to some rather extensive oil spills. It will be appreciated, of course, that oil spills represent only one of many types of liquid contaminants which may be present floating on a body of water. In the oil spills, or other liquid contamination, encountered on the open seas or in harbors, there has generally not been a comparatively swift flowing body of water in which it was either desired to contain the contamination to a particular area or to remove the contamination after such containment. Thus, many types of contamination control booms have heretofore been utilized in such applications, These, of course, include those booms in which a flotation member is provided and to which there is a dependent skirt attached, extending downwardly into the water. Generally, both ends of such a boom are fixed or anchored. The fixing or anchoring of the ends of the boom may be to boats or to land masses for containment of an oil spill. In many of these booms, the flotation member has been fabricated of canvas, plastic, or the like and while adequate for the above described applications, have not alway proven to be satisfactory where comparatively swift flowing bodies of water are encountered, such as in rivers, and, additionally, where such rivers may contain floating solid masses such as, for example, ice. In such applications, it is desired that the liquid contamination be diverted to regions adjacent the bank or shore of the river, where the velocity is lower and, further, that the large floating masses, such as ice, be deflected away from the area where the liquid contamination is directed.
In the pulp and paper industry, glance booms, have been utilized, in which a segmented boom, having pivotally mounted fins on the downstream side thereof, had one end mounted on the bank or shore and the boom extended outwardly into the river. The fins were movable to change the angle that the boom made with the direction of flow. The pulp floating on the body of water would impinge upon the boom and be guided around the boom to the remote end thereof, where it was suitable collected. The segmented boom, when contacted by comparatively large mass solid objects such as ice, tended to have an excess deformation, and, further, no channels were provided to allow the flow of liquid through the boom.
In other applications, deflection booms, which were in the form of individual fins clipped on to conventional booms, have been proposed. This configuration converted the boom to a straight deflection boom which was moored at its upstream end. Upon encountering the boom, the floating liquid contaminant was guided around the end of the boom for recovery. However, such booms did not provide for a separation of the liquid contaminant floating on the body from the comparatively large solid masses such as ice which may also accompany such liquid contamination. Deflectors have been proposed to deflect the contaminant together with the surface layer, however, comparatively massive deflectors and mooring structures were often needed in such applications in order to deflect a sufficient depth of the surface layer which, in some applications, was several meters deep.
Consequently, there has long been a need for a contamination control boom, particularly adapted for utilization in comparatively rapidly flowing bodies of water such as rivers, in which the liquid contamination is also accompanied by large masses of floating solids such as ice, and in which the floating liquid contamination can be directed to a convenient location for removal and the floating solids such as ice are deflected to a different location so as not to interfere with the removal of the liquid contaminant.